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By laura Legere (Staff Writer)
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Published: April 30, 2013

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A Hindu, a Muslim, a Jew and a Catholic are coming for brunch. What should you serve?

Not a ham and cheese omelet.

Northeast Pennsylvania's increasing religious diversity has raised new etiquette questions for people hosting a gathering, catering a party, attending a funeral or entering a worship space. Rabbi Joseph Mendelsohn has designed a handbook to help a welcoming community navigate its differences.

During years as a spiritual leader with a high public profile, Rabbi Mendelsohn noticed that events promoted as open and inclusive inadvertently excluded some groups because they were held on sacred days or did not serve food that honored religious dietary practices.

He noticed that interfaith events offered good will but little practical guidance for learning more about different religions.

"The attitude has been wonderful, but the tool is needed," he said. "People don't want to have to go to the Web and go through volumes to get the simple stuff. This is the simple stuff."

The interfaith resource handbook contains a thorough list of holidays for various faith traditions from Baha'i to Zoroastrian. It also includes summaries of guiding beliefs, texts, funeral rituals, and dietary practices for several religions, including Christian denominations, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism.

The text was researched and written by Rabbi Mendelsohn and four students at the University of Scranton and Marywood University.

It is meant "as a first step," according to the handbook's opening sections. "We want to provide information making it easier for us to be together in discussion."

Rabbi Mendelsohn said he imagines the handbook being used by government agencies, local community organizations, school administrations, hospital chaplains, interfaith collectives or "anyone planning an event." He has also developed a sensitivity awareness presentation to give to interested local groups.

He plans to post additional interfaith information on the web page of the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania, including a calendar with the dates of holy days that change each year so the resource remains "timeless."

One goal of the handbook is to help the community recognize itself, however different it might be from its past.

"When I got here, I was told Scranton is 45 percent Catholic Irish, 45 percent Catholic Italian and 10 percent others," he said. "Many people in this community still think that's the demographics. Part of this effort is getting the community to understand how it has changed."

The response to the handbook has been very positive among officials, educators and clergy, he said.

"The community is really ready for this," he said.

Copies of the handbook are available from the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania at 961-2300.

Contact the writer: llegere@timesshamrock.com

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